Month: February 2018

Over the last few decades, there has been a massive shift in the fitness world as more companies and consumers realize the possibilities of new technologies. With companies like Fitbit creating wearable devices to track exercise and MyFitnessPal to keep your diet in order, mobile technology is revolutionizing the way we stay fit. One company that has been doing this longer than most is Netpulse, a company that saw the potential of mobile and fitness.

Built upon the foundation of creating branded mobile apps for fitness studios and gyms across the globe, Netpulse has grown from an idea into a business that has raised over $40 million in funding over the last 6 years. Not only is Netpulse a sign of the times, but of the power ofmobile marketing to make a difference in the lives of customers. Let’s take a closer look at their business model and see what can be learned from their success.

The Netpulse story

Netpulse was founded in 2001 by Thomas Prouix and Bryan Arp, who saw the untapped potential of putting screens in front of gym members while they work out. In a day and age where80% of gym members own a smartphone and keep it with them at all times, this makes sense. However, back in 2001, this was still a revolutionary idea.

Over the next 10 years, Prouix and Arp worked to establish relationships with many top players in the fitness industry. Gold’s Gym, Retro Fitness, and UFC Gym were just some of their first high-profile clients, allowing them to invest more in new features and scalability for smaller clubs. Today, Netpulse has thousands of customers and has even made acquisitions of companies like Club Apps to expand their customer base.

How does Netpulse work?

Now that you have some history on this groundbreaking company, you may be interested in howNetpulse actually works. For starters, Netpulse targets gyms and fitness studios that are looking to increase customer engagement and referrals. They do this through something they refer to as their Netpulse Formula, which is a 5 step program that includes attracting, converting, engaging, selling, and connecting to and with gym members.

By creating a specific mobile app for each fitness business, Netpulse is able to consolidate allmarketing messaging in one, easy to find space. Not only that, but members can also use their apps to track their fitness progress, making Netpulse apps the one-stop-shop for members when they visit the gym.

The power of mobile apps

Back in 2001, companies were just beginning to see the power ofmobile app development when it came to reaching customers. Today, we understand this, but Netpulse has been working with gyms and fitness studios for years and now has the analytics and data they need to set themselves apart from the competition.

Features like checking in when you reach the gym, setting goals for your workouts, scheduling classes, and more can all be done through the apps that NetPulse creates. While many businesses that create apps focus on one area of the customer journey, Netpulse puts everything in one place to make things easier on users.

Customer engagement

Another aspect of Netpulse that has helped many fitness studios retain more customers is the ability to integrate with other platforms and programs. For instance, Netpulse has a builtcustomer loyalty program for members to earn rewards while they exercise. Not only does this lead to better customer engagement, but it incentivizes members to come back to the gym again and again.

By offering customers relevant rewards and ideas for what they need to succeed, Netpulse has been able to help these fitness clubs enhance their customer engagement strategy. This should be a lesson to other fitness businesses that rely on quick fixes and untested solutions: treat your customers well and they will stick around.

The Success of Netpulse

As you can see, Netpulse has been able to build a solid foundation by providing members with what they need for success. However, the other key reason for Netpulse’s boom is their understanding of fitness club owners and managers. Owners can track their membersuser engagement metrics to get an inside look at their ideal customers.

This kind of information is invaluable to any business, but especially one that can be as chaotic as a fitness studio. Since customers need to be engaged in order to make their daily trip to the gym, this kind of equipment and technology is going to become even more necessary in the years to come.

Revenue model

When it comes to the revenue model that Netpulse employs, they separate their offerings into 2 distinct categories: small business and enterprise. Netpulse understands that the needs of a large company don’t always align with those of a smaller gym or fitness studio, and their features and pricing are adjusted accordingly. Let’s first look at their small business model.

For small businesses

Knowing that small business owners often don’t have the capital to create a custom app, Netpulse works on a template format for small businesses. They work with the owners to design their app, layout the functions, and get it published in theapp store. From there, owners pay a monthly fee for them to perform mobile app maintenance and make sure that users can find them when they search.

For enterprise

On the flipside, Netpulse’s enterprise solution begins app development from the ground up. Since enterprise clients often have a much wider presence, they are often less concerned with referrals and customer retention, and are more interested in brand recognition and upselling. Netpulse understands this and makes each of these functions a priority.

They also understand that enterprise solutions must be built to scale, which is whymarketing automation is a large part of their enterprise model. Not only can this help owners and managers to better focus on their member’s experience, but it provides a united front, an important part of brand recognition.

Final thoughts

As we have seen from Netpulse’s success, a focus on members and their needs is a surefire way to increase engagement and retention. Additionally, by using technology and automations whenever possible, they are able to make a better experience for their owners as well. This should be a lesson to those just getting started in the fitness world: mobile technology is powerful when used well, so make sure you are doing exactly that.

For anyone who works regularly with mobile or web solutions, you understand the necessity of data for almost all digital functions. Without the right data, systems run dry and are useless until replenished. Mobile analytics tools work the same way. Unless you are actively trackinguser engagement metrics on a daily basis, your stream will run dry. Although, this time it won’t be data you are missing, but customers.

In today’s day and age, marketers and business owners need to understand how mobile analytics tools function in order to stay ahead of their customers. In this article, we are going to take a look at how to use these analytics tools for success, both when capturing data and using it for analysis. Without taking up any more time, let’s get into it.

Start “mining”

Sometimes referred to as “data mining,” the act of collected mobile analytics should begin as soon as possible. The more information that you are able to collect, the better your analysis of your customers will be. Start by taking a look at your latestcustomer retention techniques and how they worked, this can give you a good insight into where you should focus.

When trying to track mobile users, analytics tools can come in a few different variations. For example, a mobile app is easy to track as you have complete control over the entire situation. Whereas something like amass text marketing campaign can offer you analytics like click-through rate and conversions, but not the whole story.

Our advice is start mining early and collected as much data as you can.

Capture all data

One of the biggest mistakes made by first time users of analytics tools is to try and predict which data will be useful and which will not. Not only is this an unwise approach, but without all the data available, your reports will be skewed and unreliable. Instead, capture all possible data from as many sources as possible.

Thankfully, a lot of this sort of capturing can be done withmarketing automation today. However, we recommend spending a good amount of time setting up the process before you begin in order to make sure you are getting the most out of it. When you are capturing all of that data, creating an understandable filing system will save you a lot of headache later. You may not even need all of this data, but you should capture it anyway and have a system for finding it, should you need it.

Quality over quantity

Now, it is going to seem as if this next step counteracts the previous one, but that is not the case. When we say that you should use quality data over a large amount of data when running your analytics tools, we mean that you should use only relevant data. Despite that fact that we just told you to collect all data frommobile app analytics to user time management habits, that doesn’t mean you will actually need to use all it.

Instead, you should select the information that is pertinent to what you are working on and use your analytics tools to discover the true story. While you should absolutely avoid making assumptions about your audience (more on that in a minute), you should at least know which data is relevant to your current situation. Then, use that to make decisions, not the irrelevant data.

No assumptions

Another common pitfall made when using analytics tools is to come into things with a certain viewpoint and then make assumptions about your customers based on what you have assumed about them. Not only is this unproductive, but it will lead to poor analytics results as well. Instead, try to approach each new look at the data with an open mind, there may be something you missed before due to unintended bias.

It is also worth saying that you should make decisions based off past experience and data from your analytics tools. This is different from simply assuming things about your customers without the proper follow-through. However, if you have already done the analytics and understand the context before making a decision, that is by all means a wise and thoughtful approach.

Avoid unnecessary risk

When you are focused onreducing churn rate and retaining more customers, it can be difficult to approach all decisions with such a clear, thoughtful mind. This is another area where those using analytics tools fall short and end up taking unnecessary risks for the sake of collecting data. While it may have been that you used to have to bed your customers for their feedback on your product or service, analytics tools have taken over.

Now, your customers should never have to perform an extra step or invest additional time to give you the data you need. If you are able to follow these best practices for using analytics tools, you should be able to collect everything you need without any interruptions to your or your processes. Not only will this help you avoid customers who can grow aggravated from repeat prodding, but it will create a better process overall.

Remember the full picture

Out last piece of advice when it comes to using analytics tools is to remember the full, overall picture of yourcustomer retention marketing campaign. It can be easy to get bogged down by stats and analytics tools, so it is important to keep an optimistic mindset and remember why you are doing the things that you are.

For example, it may seem tedious when you are creating your marketing automations and putting together your campaign, but once you see the customers start to roll in based off your smart, data-based marketing decisions, the whole thing will feel worth it. You should also begin to see that the data you collect has an effect on your mind and the way you approach other issues.

By remembering the full picture, you can prepare yourself for anything while being ready for everything. We hope that you are able to use both these best practices and analytics tools to create a better experience for both you and your customers. Now, get to mining!

While there are those who are just now hearing about customer loyalty programs and their ability to engage customers, others have been investing in customer loyalty for close to a decade. Those folks are the people of Perkville, a company that understands the power of customer loyalty in a world where customers have more choices than ever before.

By harnessing the power ofrelationship marketing, Perkville has made a name for themselves working with industries like spas, salons, and fitness studios to increase customer loyalty. Additionally, Perkville has been ahead of the game when it comes to loyalty, as now75% of consumers believe loyalty programs are part of their relationship with a brand.

If you want to learn a thing or two about customer loyalty from the best in the business, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s talk about Perkville and the power of customer loyalty.

Company history

Perkville began back in 2010 with the idea of revolutionizing the way small businesses engage with their customers. Their hypothesis was that if you give your customers a way to track their loyalty and even reward them for it, they will be more likely to stay loyal to your company. While this might seem simple now, without companies like Perkville leading the way that would not be the case.

Since then, they have raised millions of dollars in funding and now work with a series of different companies across different industries. In a time wherecustomer retention and engagement is such an important part of the overall experience, Perkville has helped many to do more with less.

How does Perkville work?

“Ok, but how does Perkville work?” you might be asking. Even if you don’t know how the system works, you have undoubtedly experienced some form of acustomer loyalty program at some point in your life. Common examples include Starbucks’ rewards program, airline mileage programs, or even filling out a punch card for a free smoothie at your local shop.

Perkville simply has taken this idea and scaled it to a level where almost anyone can use it. By using big data for small businesses, these companies are able to make better decisions and help their customers with a loyalty program. The brilliance of Perkville comes from simply rewarding customers for engaging with a business more, which in turn drives sales and conversions.

Increase referrals

However, there are other benefits outside of simplyreducing churn rate and increasing sales, although those are the main goals. Perkville can also help businesses increase referral business as well, both organically and with a little push. First, for organic growth they know that 73% of customers are more likely to recommend companies with strong loyalty programs. This stat proves that loyalty is important for growth as well as retention.

But with Perkville, they don’t stop there. Customers can always receive more benefits by referring friends to the business. The more friends that sign up, the more rewards you receive. So, not only are customers earning rewards, but you are getting new leads at the same time.

Marketing automation

The other feature that is often seen as a huge component of Perkville’s success is their ease of usingmarketing automation. Due to the fact that Perkville works with a lot of similar businesses, they have been able to set up campaigns that work well with each of their verticals. Companies in these industries simply set up the program and go.

With the power of automation, businesses don’t have to keep a sharp eye on every single thing their customers do. Instead, they can set up the program, see how it performs, and then analyze what can be done better. All this is being done while you focus on retaining more customers and adding new ones.

The Success of Perkville

While we have covered a few of the reasons why people use Perkville, their success has mainly come from going all-in on customer loyalty. Back in 2010, not many people understood that customer-first marketing would become as big of a trend as it has. By being at the forefront and going above and beyond, Perkville was able to cement their place in this space.

As more businesses join Perkville, the better their technology will become for creating loyal customers. Then, as their business grows, new areas of the market will start to see the benefit of loyalty for their customers. While it still remains to be seen what Perkville will do, we believe the future is bright.

Revenue model

Perkville works on a subscription-based revenue model on a monthly basis, which is typically the most popular format for SaaS companies, especially those working with small and medium sized businesses. From there it seems to simply increase in price for the amount of features you would want at your disposal.

Some savvy businesses have begun to pair Perkville’s customer loyalty program withSMS marketing for even better customer engagement. Since customers usually need to use their phone in order to access their rewards points, this combination makes a lot of sense for small businesses working on a budget.

Final thoughts

As we have seen, customer loyalty is becoming one of the best ways to engage with customers and keep them coming back again and again. However, like any great marketing program, it works best in conjunction with others.

We hope that you are able to take what you have learned from Perkville about loyalty and apply it to your own customers. Just remember that treating them with respect and making their lives better is the ultimate goal.

For every small business, finding the right balance between acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones can be difficult. Especially when you consider the seemingly limitless options available to customers today, business owners are often fighting against the tide. Thankfully, with the rightcustomer retention strategy, you can eliminate customer churn and work towards providing for your customer base instead of worrying about expanding it.

In this article, we are going to cover 6 strategies for tackling customer churn in 2018. Each of these tactics is specifically designed to help you treat your customers well and keep them coming back again and again. After all, according to Walker, by 2020,customer experience will overtake product and price as the key brand differentiator. Instead of waiting for this to happen, why not get a leg up on your competition by diving in now? Let’s take get started.

Know your customers

The first part of tackling customer churn is to spend time getting to know your customers. Unless you do this early on, how do you expect to create a campaign that adequately meets their needs? By taking time to understand both the patterns in which your customers operate and how you can improve their experience, you will be walking through the woods without a map.

Instead of getting lost, begin by analyzinguser engagement metrics and mapping your customer’s journey from start to finish. This will help you understand both the parts of your campaign that work and more importantly, the ones that don’t. From there, you can decide where to focus your attention based on what your customer’s indicate is most important. From here, you are ready to employ the following 6 strategies to combat customer churn.

1.Segmentation FTW

Now that you have analyzed the behavior of your customers, the next step is to create different customer personas correlating to the different segments of your audience. These personas are vital to the success of your campaign, as each type of customer warrants a different approach. For example, you wouldn’t want to send the sametext blast to a group of former customers as you do new leads.

As you place each of these customers into their different segments, try picturing in your mind what tactics you can use to combat churn with that specific customer. While these tactics may never actually be used, getting into the mind of your customer can give you valuable insight into how you can better serve them.

2.Optimize the onboarding process

When you are getting to know your customers and putting them in different segments, you may start to notice a trend early on in the customer journey. That trend being a sharp dip in customer engagement during the onboarding process. Don’t worry, this isn’t unique, asclose to 86% of new mobile users never return to an app after the initial download. All this means is that the onboarding process needs to be optimized to the best of your ability.

This is another scenario where some good ol’ fashionedanalytics will help you make the best decision. Monitor where customers are falling off during the onboarding process and work with your team to find a better solution. Making a good first impression is a powerful indicator to your audience that you care about their success.

3.Monitor at-risk customers

Another tactic similar to maximizing the onboarding process when tackling customer churn is finding at-risk customers before they leave and prioritizing them. In the same way that there are often indicators or hurdles your customers are having to overcome early on, there can be aspects of the customer journey that show customers about to look elsewhere.

However, identifying these customers is only half the battle. From there, you can use engagement tools likeSMS marketing to reach out to these customers and find out what you can be doing better. If you can keep around simply 10%-20% of customers that would have churned, it will be worth the extra effort.

4.Ask for input

Although this is often part of the “get to know your customers” part of this process, asking them for input is the best way to uncover user stories and analyze problem areas. As a rule of thumb, sending out customer satisfaction surveys should be a regular part of yourcustomer retention marketing campaign. What better way to know what your customers want then to simply ask them?

Additionally, there are now more ways of doing this than ever before that lead to good results. For instance, some companies have had success running support and asking for customer opinions through their text message marketing campaigns. Use the tools at your disposal to make the biggest impact you can.

5.Use all tools at your disposal

Speaking of, that is actually our 5th strategy: use all tools at your disposal. In 2018,mobile marketing tools are everywhere and simple to use. Whether you are running an SMS campaign, sending branded messages with push notifications, or just want to step up your email marketing game, there are tools available to help you out.

That being said, you also need to understand the best way to use these tools. Our recommendation is to take what you have learned from the other strategies we have covered and apply it to these tools at your disposal to combat customer churn. Segment, optimize, monitor, and ask for help, then use the tools available to create a proper solution.

6.Make it obvious that you care

As we have mentioned, 2018 is the year of customer experience. In today’s market, customers have all the power, and it is your job to offer the best possible experience if you hope to win them over. By doing so, you make it obvious that you care, our final strategy for combating customer churn. This is the basis of everything we have covered when it comes toreducing churn rate at your company.

Keep this in mind with everything you do, “How can I prove to my customers that I value them?” If you are able to do this, you will be blown away by how your customers treat you in return. In the end, customer retention and fighting customer churn are pretty simply, it’s getting there that takes hard work.

For many in the fitness industry, Fitbit has become a household name. However, just over a decade ago, Fitbit was nothing more than a wooden box. Since that time, they have risen to become a $4-billion-dollar company and a major player in thewearable technology market. This has left many to wonder: what’s their secret?

Fitbit has made a name for themselves by tracking personal data for their members. Whether it be related to sleep, exercise, or several other areas, they are tracking it. As a company, Fitbit is the best at making the data work for them. As we review their business model and the success they have found, remember that all it takes is a good idea and a lot of data.

An unlikely story

In 2007, James Park and Eric Friedman saw potential for using sensors on small, wearable devices. Apparently they weren’t the only ones. After receiving $400,000 in funding, the duo took the idea to the TechCrunch 50 conference in hopes of garnering attention and hopefully pre-orders.

When they set out, they hoped to get 50 pre-orders from that first conference, but ended up with 2,000. A year later, they were selling 20,000 units and realized that they had something working. As they continued to sell new products, Fitbit was able to evolve into the company you know today by taking risks and getting involved in new technology.

Making data work for you

One of the main reasons for Fitbit’s success has been due to their leveraging ofuser engagement metrics. Since Fitbit users are almost always wearing their product, Fitbit has a unique ability to track the movements and patterns of their customers. By using this information well, they have been able to create better products and deliver better results than ever before.

Unfortunately, this kind of data tracking has put them in hot water as well. For instance, they have been accused by members of the government of tracking users data to sell to third-party companies. While Fitbit has denied these claims and put in measures to tighten security, it’s a good reminder of why handling customer information of this nature needs to be done carefully.

Exercise and activity

Exercise and daily activity is one of the metrics that Fitbits track for their customers. This can help them to better understand themselves and the way their body behaves in order to make decisions on what activities to pursue. Although it started with just a pedometer, modern Fitbits can track heart rate, calories lost, and more.

Food and weight

Fitbit also let’s their customers track their weight and what food they eat each day. Along with activity and exercise, this can give customers a good idea of where they are in their fitness journey and where they would like to be. By using this information to their benefit, Fitbit can make recommendations and even help customers see areas they need to improve.

Sleep tracking

An underrated but essential part of staying fit is sleeping well. Fitbit knows this and makes it a focus of their technology, as Fitbit allows you to track sleeping behavior as well. Not only can these help users to better understand their habits, but it can help notice unusual behavior like sleep apnea. This kind of data can actually save lives.

The success of Fitbit

Although they have had their ups and downs, Fitbit has been able to continue to be successful as the wearable market has taken off. In fact, Fitbit still maintainsclose to 20% of the wearables market. The way that they have done this is through smart evolution and practical partnerships that allow them to special their products for a variety of different scenarios.

Using data from their users, Fitbit sees how their product is being used. From these use cases, they can create either newapps or new products that best fit the scenario. This should be a sign to other businesses: listen to your customers. Fitbit has been able to remain relevant throughout the Apple watch years simply by letting their data work for them.

Users

While the number of users fluctuates,Fitbit has 25 million active users currently and with recent acquisitions plans to continue to expand this number. Considering that just ten years ago the company was hoping to get just 50 pre-orders, this is an impressive feat.

Revenue model

Fitbit’s revenue model is relatively simple, as their main source of revenue is simply from selling their products. However, in recent years, Fitbit has established new partnerships in the healthcare industry, hoping to diversify their product line and open up new pathways for revenue to come in.

Conclusion

As wearables continue to rise in popularity, we likely haven’t even seen the peak of Fitbit yet. As more users come on, the more data that Fitbit has to work with in order to keep up the good work and help more of their customers. Their story is one that should be taken to heart when remembering why we track data and what it means to live in a data-driven world.

Over the last few decades, there has been a cultural shift in regards to fitness and staying healthy. Along with this shift there have been dozens of different apps and new technologies that have tried to encourage people on their fitness journey. One of the biggest players in the industry that has proven time and time again the importance of working smarter instead of harder is MyFitnessPal.

We will first talk about the history and success of MyFitnessPal. Along with that we will show how they were able to harness the power ofapp analytics into a user base of over 140 million. Without further ado, let’s start from the beginning.

From the beginning

This story begins where many fitness journeys often do: getting ready for a wedding. Back in 2005, Mike Lee, co-founder and CEO of MyFitnessPal was trying to lose weight with his then-fiancé before their wedding. After talking with a personal trainer, Mike and his wife received a list of nutritious foods and a note pad for tallying up their calorie intake.

Right away, Mike new that there was a better solution. Since he had beencoding since he was 10 years old and wasn’t impressed with other apps or websites on the market, Lee decided to create his own program. This program would eventually turn into MyFitnessPal which would go on to be sold to Under Armor for $475 million dollars in 2015. Little did Mike know what the fitness world had in store for him when he wrote those first few lines of code 13 years ago.

How does MyFitnessPal work?

Now that you have some background on the company, let’s talk about some of the different features of MyFitnessPal that have set it apart in the past few years. As we mentioned earlier, at the time when Mike was putting together the app, there weren’t many fitness or nutrition trackers out there. And the ones that were did not do a satisfactory job, as they were either too cumbersome or full of bugs.

Along with creating a simpler app with auser-focused design, over time MyFitnessPal was able to add additional features that took fitness tracking to a whole new level.

Exercise and nutrition tracking

For instance, exercise and nutrition tracking, Mike and company were able to take a look at the poor design of other fitness tracking technologies and understand through user-stories the best approach to this conundrum. One of the first was one Mike saw himself in other fitness trackers: that you couldn’t save exercises or foods for repeat use. Something as simple as this was enough to give MyFitnessPal the legs it needed early on.

Checking in and seeing progress

Something else that was missing from other apps that would be uncovered throughuser engagement metrics was the ability to check-in and monitor progress. As anyone who has spent time around fitness clubs or gyms can attest, tracking progress is a huge component of fitness. Before MyFitnessPal, there was not an all-in-one solution to this problem.

Through the app users could do weekly weigh-ins where they would input their current weight and compare it with where you started. Additionally, the app will automatically update with this new information to reset your goals for the upcoming week in regards to calorie intake.

Habitual usage

The other great thing about MyFitnessPal is it encourages habitual usage by making things easier with each subsequent usage. While it may take a while to set up your goals and input your first few meals and exercises, soon users will only need to spend roughly 30 seconds updating the app. As we mentioned earlier, MyFitnessPal is able to work smarter instead of harder, something users love.

The success of MyFitnessPal

It’s no secret that MyFitnessPal has been one of the most successful fitness-related apps of the last decade. However, this kind of success doesn’t just happen by accident. Mike Lee and the rest of the MyFitnessPal team were able to meet their users and customers along their journey and help them wherever they are to get where they want to go.

This should be a lesson to others who are trying to do the same. It’s not about creating the most extraordinary technology or providing the best service (although these both help), it’s simply a matter of understanding your audience and really caring about yourrelationship with them. Once you treat your users right, the rest is easy.

Users

Speaking of users, MyFitnessPal boasts over 165 million users and is able to improve the experience of all users by incorporating metrics and analytics from tracking each of their fitness journeys.

Revenue model

While MyFitnessPal’s popularity is mainly due to it being a free app, they are able to earn money through premium memberships and ad revenue. The MyFitnessPal Premium offers advanced tools for tracking nutrition and exercise as well as removing ads for dedicated users. This is a good example of the “free-mium” model in use.

Other popular companies like Spotify and Hulu have taken advantage of this kind of revenue model. By allowing users to get the basic functions for free while running ads, you are able to make up the difference with ad revenue. However, once users are accustomed to the service, they will be more willing to pay you each month to avoid the ads. Either way it’s a win for your business and your customers.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that MyFitnessPal was acquired by Under Armor in 2015, they are still working tirelessly to serve their customers. As fitness continues to take off and fitness trackers like the FitBit and Apple Watch become more commonplace, the sky continues to be the limit for this fitness powerhouse.

For those who are hoping to get involved in the fitness world for themselves, MyFitnessPal is an excellent example of putting users first and creating a great customer experience for all. Do this for yourself and you’ll never have to worry aboutcustomer retention marketing or other ways of reducing churn rate again.

For every business, the idea of a betterrelationship with customers and increased profitability are music to the ears. After all, why would you get into an industry if you weren’t interested in making money by helping people with your solution? Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to connect with your customers in a meaningful and engaging way. This is where customer engagement comes in.

Customer engagement has become a popular process for many businesses that are hoping to reach their customers. However, what you may not know is that customer engagement can also provide a great ROI and make you more profitable than ever before. In this article, we are going to explore not only why customer engagement matters and how to define the success of your campaign, but how to make you more money in the process. Let’s get started.

Why Customer Engagement Matters

When discussing customer engagement with business owners, many are unsure why it matters to interact with customers on a new level. While we will review a few other reasons why throughout this article, the main reason for this shift is profitability. In fact,Research from Gallup revealed that brands who successfully engage their customers go on to see 63% lower customer attrition, 55% higher share of wallet, and 50% higher productivity.

This should not be a surprise, it simply makes sense. The more that you are able to insert yourself into the everyday lives of your customers, the more familiar they become with your brand. As they become more familiar, the more likely they are to come to you when they need something. Not only does this increase conversions, but it brings in more money for the business as well.

However, customer engagement andretention marketing expand much further than simply creating more successful interactions with customers. There is a lot of work that goes into making that possible and, once you get started, you need a way of defining your success. So let’s talk about that.

Defining the success of customer engagement

According to Gallup, your customers fall into three separate categories when it comes to customer engagement: fully engaged, indifferent, and actively disengaged. Now, while it may not always be possible to move someone from actively disengaged to fully engaged, it is important to understand these distinctions when starting your campaign. By having a good idea of where your customers are, you can use this as a benchmark for where you want them to be.

Even if yourmarketing strategies only convert a few indifferent customers into fully engaged ones, it’s worth it. In fact, brands who are ‘fully engaged’ with their customers perform better with ‘a 23% premium in terms of share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth over the average customer.’ Once your customers start to fully engage with your brand, they are more likely to bring you a health return on your investment.

This shows that a focus on customer engagement can not only show your customers that you care, but improve your bottom line. Now let’s get into how to actually make customer engagement a reality.

Paths toward improvement

Whether you have been involved with customer engagement or are just starting out, there is always a path toward improvement for your company. And while this may look different for each individual company and audience, there are a few best practices that can be universally applied. Let’s take a look.

Treat your customers well, always

One of the most widespread and powerful customerengagement strategies is to treat your customers well, always. This can be difficult for some brands to get used to, but by maximizing every step in the customer journey, you are setting yourself up for success. Make sure that your employees know that customer service needs to be the highest priority throughout.

Part of creating engaging tactics and strategies is the ability to put yourself in the shoes of the customer. Think about a recent poor customer service experience: are you more or less likely to return to that company? Simple things like this are truly the difference between making ends meet and growing your business.

Let your audience tell you what they want

Another common mistake made by far too many brands is trying to predict what customers want instead of just asking them. In order to truly provide your audience with valuable engagement, you need to let your audience tell you what they want out of your company. Whether it is an engagement survey or simply a comment section on your website, giving your audience a voice will dramatically improve your sales performance.

Additionally, in the digital age that we live in, there are more than a few ways to listen to your customers. For instance,user engagement metrics can provide valuable insight into the patterns and behavior of your audience that they may not even be aware of. Be mindful of these metrics and what your customers are saying to get the most out of your campaign.

Provide real-time benefits to customers

Once you have a good understanding of the benefits your customers are looking for, you can use mobile marketing tools to deliver those benefits in real-time. Tools such as SMS marketing, push notifications, andmarketing automation are geared toward reaching customers instantaneously and are powerful when it comes to engagement.

For example, should a customer make a request for additional information, you can send a tailored message linking to a blog post or article explaining the process they are confused by. When you deliver tailored, pertinent information directly to your customers, they are far more likely to see you as someone they can trust and purchase from.

Create a community

One of the best ways to keep customers engaged is by creating a community where customers can interact with others. Many businesses do this, fromfitness clubs to retail stores, creating a place where community can develop and grow can do wonders for business. Customers can share best practices in regards to your brand, putting you at the center while harnessing the power of inclusion.

The thing you need to know about communities is that they don’t grow in a vacuum. It is your job as the business to create a space for your customers to come together. Once they have this place, you may need to motivate them as they get started until they see the results for themselves. Do your part and put faith in your audience to do theirs, you won’t be disappointed.

Get creative

The final way to use customer engagement to improve your bottom line and make you more profitable is to get creative and have fun with it. As we said earlier, put yourself in the shoes of your customers: would you rather work with someone that is robotic and systematic in their approach or someone who truly understands what you need?

Additionally, there are a lot of creative ways you can engage with your customers. Looking to receive more interactions with your text marketing campaign? Useshort codes. Want to start a conversation with your social media followers? Take a page from Jimmy Fallon’s book and start a fun hashtag. Whatever you do, make sure you are putting your customer’s first and are bringing them content and value that they both want and deserve.

Final thoughts

As you get started with your own customer engagement campaign, we hope that this article will help guide you through the decision making process. By putting the focus on the customers and doing your part to treat them well while adding benefits to their life, you should be on the right track. However, the follow through and ability to adapt will be what sets you apart from your competition.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start changing your customers lives today! After all, they might just return the favor and change yours.

It is often said that while businesses change, customers stay the same. While this may be true, the way in which businesses reach their customers looks radically different than it did even a few years ago. As business and engagement strategies change, it can be easy to get lost in the whirlwind of new ideas andcustomer retention techniques that are out there.

In doing our part to help you sort through these various engagement strategies, we have put together a list of the most powerful ways to reach your customers and keep them around. It is our hope that by reading through this list you will have a better understanding of your customers, your business, and how best the two interact. Let’s get started.

Deliver value with everything you do

The first concept you should understand when seeking toreduce churn rate and improve customer engagement for your business is that you need to deliver value with everything you do. Whether it is an SMS message or an email, an in-person meeting or a chatbot, every interaction with your company should deliver value into your customers’ lives.

When customers come to associate your business with valued added to their lives, they are much more open to engaging with you in new ways. Each of the other engagement strategies we will review are simply different ways of doing this. However, we feel that you should understand the mindset with which you should approach each new scenario to engage with your customers.

Customer service at every turn

Part of providing value means that customer service needs to be high on your list of priorities. This doesn’t just apply to when customers complain or are in need of assistance, but at each turn in their customer journey. This is something that will need to be taught and trainings may be necessary, but the effect on your customers that it will have will be more than worth it.

One area where customer service can make a huge different is withmass text marketing campaigns. Customers are used to receiving automated messages that seek to accomplish a goal, but these same messages can have an even bigger impact with a human touch and added flair. Make sure that you are trying your best to remind customers at each step that you value them and are there to help, should they need anything.

Create useful content

Another engagement strategy that many have used to reach their customers is to create content that is useful to them. With customer retention marketing, the more ways in which you can deliver value to your customers, the better. If you can create content that is not only engaging, but can help your customers solve a problem, you will have it made in the shade.

However, we should mention that timing and the way in which this content is deliver will have an impact on its success. Obviously, you will need a place to house the information, like a blog. This will allow your customers to discover it on their own should they need to, but you should also be ready to meet them with a quicktext blast linking to the article that best solves the issue they are facing.

Listen to your audience

While delivering value is a hallmark of customer engagement strategies, it’s not always easy to know what your customers value. This is why it is important to listen to your audience. Unfortunately, when you are struggling to improve customer engagement, it can be difficult to facilitate a productive conversation.

Thankfully, there are a few ways to listen to your audience other than actually talking about it. For instance, you should always be monitoringuser engagement metrics to see how your customers are interacting with you. Oftentimes these metrics are more actionable than customer reviews. Our tip: go by what your customers do, not just what they say.

That being said, you should also be open to and even encourage a dialogue with your customers. Make sure there is a place on your website where customers can come with comments and complaints. Dealing with things like this directly is always preferable to doing so publicly on less-formal platforms like social media.

Learn from past campaigns

A running theme of customer engagement is seeing what has worked before and what hasn’t before launching into a new engagement strategy. Think back to previous campaigns you have run and try to imagine what could have gone differently to improve engagement with your customers.

By taking a hard look at previous work, you will not only be able to learn from past mistakes, but better understand the audience you are hoping to serve. This might also be a good chance to find ways to incorporate newmobile marketing tools to boost your retention and engagement strategies.

Personalize your messaging

Speaking of new tools and technologies, a recent engagement strategy that many businesses are using is personalization. Each time you send an SMS, email, or push notification, you can make it personal to that customer by adding their name and any other information you might have. This sort of engagement strategy builds onrelationship marketing and shows your customers that you care.

Not only do customers enjoy when brands personalize their experience, but studies show that itincrease their likelihood of making a purchase as well. In fact, most customer engagement strategies are simply about taking things that extra step to improve the lives of your customers.

Bring human insight to the customer experience

Our final word on customer engagement strategies comes from an unlikely source: The Bible. In Luke 6:31, it is written “Do to others what you want them to do to you.” More commonly referred to as the Golden Rule, this piece of advice can transform your customer engagement campaign.

By simply asking yourself “Would I want this kind of service?” before running a campaign, you are able to bring human insight to the world of customer engagement. This is really all it takes to create aloyal customer base, to treat them with respect. Remind yourself of this at each stage of the process and you will soon have no problem finding ways to engage customers.